Luke Heidebrecht

Luke Heidebrecht grew up in small-town rural Saskatchewan on the lands that are part of Treaty 6 territory and the homelands of the Métis. His ancestry is mixed Mennonite and Scottish, from which he draws upon as a source of guidance when it comes to his commitments to teaching and learning from a social and ecological justice standpoint.  

Luke’s teaching and research areas have been informed by his experiences working in Guatemala where he explored the intersection of settler-colonialism and transnational research partnerships, anti-colonial experiential learning and study abroad, as well as community-engaged and participatory methodologies. He has worked in the College of Medicine as a researcher and project lead in Indigenous health and wellness research examining Indigenous, peer-led wellness support for HIV and HCV care, Land-based healing retreats, and digital archives as tools for preservation and revitalization of community knowledge, stories, and language. He is passionate about examining and understanding education from an interdisciplinarity lens as well as the interconnection between health, wellness, citizenship, advocacy and education.

• Ph.D. University of Saskatchewan, 2021
• M.Th. (Distinction), University of Wales, 2015

• EFDT 313 – Pedagogies of Place Context Based Learning
• EFDT 825 – Climate Change Education
• EFDT 885 – Investigation in Culture and Environment (Study Abroad)

• Heidebrecht, L., Iyer, S., Laframboise, S.L., Madampage, C., & King, A. (2021). "Every one of us is a strand in that basket": Weaving Together Stories of Indigenous Wellness and Resilience from the Perspective of those with Lived and Living Experience with HIV/HCV.  Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Special Issue: Resilience & Wellbeing throughout the Lifespan of People Living with HIV. 
• Heidebrecht, L. and Balzer, G. (2020). Decolonial Experimentations in International Service Learning Research and Practice: Learnings from Mayan Indigenous Host Communities. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 26(1). 
• O’Sullivan, M., Smaller, H., Heidebrecht, L., and Balzer, G. (2019). A Nicaraguan/Guatemalan Encuentro: Villagers Hosting International Service Learning Groups Reflect on Their Experiences. Canadian Journal of Education, 42(3).
• Heidebrecht, L. and Balzer, G. (2019). Resistance and Resonance: Postcolonial Texts and Social Justice Conversations in ELA Classrooms in Rural Saskatchewan. In Strong-Wilson T., Ehret, C., Lewkowich, D., and Chang-Kredl, S. (Eds.), Provoking Curriculum Encounters Across Educational Experience: New Engagements with the Curriculum Theory Archive. New York, NY:  
• Balzer, G. and Heidebrecht, L (2017). “There’s some colonial in my postcolonial”: Community Development Workers’ Perspectives on Faith-based Service Learning in a Guatemalan Context. Engaged Scholars Journal, 3(1), 85-100.

• Balzer, G., Jackson, N., Heidebrecht, L., & O’Sullivan, M. (June 16, 2024) Reciprocity: What Does It Mean and What Does It Matter in Global South/Global North Research Relationships. Canadian Society for Studies in Education, Montreal.
• Heidebrecht L. and Laframboise, S.L. (June 16, 2023) Weaving the Cedar Bark: sharing stories of Indigenous women with living and/or lived experience of HIV/HCV. Lowitja: the 3^rd Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference, Cairns, Australia.
• Balzer, G., Jackson, N., Heidebrecht, L., & O’Sullivan, M. (May 28, 2023) Research plans and research realities: What happens when researchers from the Global North enter into research relationships with partners in the Global South. Canadian Society for Studies in Education, Toronto.
• Heidebrecht L. and Laframboise S.L. (November 18, 2022) Every one of us is a strand in that Basket: Relationships, culture, and ceremony in Indigenous Health and Wellness Research. Association of Nurses in Aids Care (ANAC), Tampa, Florida.

Current

• Director, the Sustainability Education Research Institute (SERI)
• Member, Communities and Sustainability Signature Area

Community Service

• Board member, SaskOutdoors